The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) is thrilled to present the U.S. Premiere of Christian Rizzo’s sakinan göze çöp batar (an overprotected eye always gets sand in it) on Friday, May 1 and Saturday May 2 at 8pm at FIAF’s Florence Gould Hall.

Renowned choreographer Christian Rizzo investigates the notion of exile in this poetic work, first presented at the 2012 Festival d’Avignon. For this solo, Rizzo inserts dancer Kerem Gelebek, who emigrated from Turkey, into his sublime and enigmatic world. Unfolding through a series of fragments and haikus, the piece expands from an examination of exile into a stirring meditation on the complex relationship between choreographer and dancer.

New York, NY,April 30, 2014—The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), New York’s premiere French cultural center, will present the U.S. premiere engagement of sakinan göze çöp batar (an overprotected eye always gets sand in it), conceived and choreographed by Christian Rizzo and performed by Kerem Gelebek on Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3 at FIAF’s Florence Gould Hall. The performance is presented as part of DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas.

With a background encompassing visual arts, fashion, and music, and a body of work that The New York Times has described as “dazzling,” and “poetically searing,” Christian Rizzo is considered one of the most exciting choreographers working in France today. In this solo, first presented at the 2012 Festival d’Avignon, Rizzo investigates the notion of exile from both country and self.

Rizzo has commented that, “Kerem’s personal history—he left his country, Turkey, to come dance in France and move to Berlin—revealed the high stakes of this solo to me: staging the emotional experience of exile.” As he inserts Gelebek into his sublime and enigmatic world, the choreographer and dancer seesaw from the familiar to the unknown, drawing on itineraries and experiences that are both alike and diverse.

Immersing himself in the choreographer’s melancholic world, dancer Gelebek enhances it, redirects it, and at times subverts it. As it unfolds through a series of fragments and haikus, the piece expands from an examination of exile into a stirring meditation on the complex relationship between choreographer and dancer.

Christian Rizzo studied fine arts at the Villa d’Arson in Nice, where he began to branch out into dance. During the 1990s, he performed with a number of contemporary choreographers, and often created soundtracks and costumes for them as well. In 1996, he founded the company l’association fragile and began presenting events, dances, solos, and group pieces, while also commissioning work in fashion and the visual arts. www.lassociationfragile.com

About Kerem Gelebek

After two years of art school in Istanbul, Kerem joined the dance program of the CNDC (Centre National de Danse Contemporaine, dir. Emmanuelle Huynh) in Angers, where he had the opportunity to work and collaborate with Ko Murobushi, Shelley Senter, David Zambrano, and many others… In 2007, he worked as a coordinator of the international festival Dance Camera Istanbul. As a dancer, Kerem has collaborated with Jordi Gali, Nicolas Le Flo’ch, Vera Mantero, Sylvain Prunenec, Emmanuelle Huynh, Mustafa Kaplan, Filiz Sizanli, Boris Charmatz, and Christian Rizzo, among others.

DANSE is a multifaceted initiative centered on contemporary dance. Presented by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in partnership with fourteen leading New York City arts organizations, DANSE includes: a three-week festival, a series of public talks, and two publications.

DANSE grew from a rich and long-running exchange between choreographers, dancers, and presenters in France and the United States, with the goal of giving contemporary dance a more prominent voice and expanding its visibility within a wider public discourse. Through live performance, editorial material, and dialogue, DANSE provides a platform for exploring the important role of dance in contemporary cultural practice, and for examining the ways in which dance engages with and informs our understanding of the world.

The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) is New York’s premiere French cultural and language center.FIAF’s mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression. www.fiaf.org

Merci!

Produced by l’association fragile.

With the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, Institut français and Ville de Lille, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, and Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (S.A.C.D.).

Supported in part by the American Turkish Society.

FIAF Spring 2014 Season Sponsors: Air France and Delta Air Lines, the official airlines of FIAF; Cultural Services of the French Embassy; Florence Gould Foundation; Institut français; National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works; New York State Council on the Arts; NYC Department of Cultural Affairs; French-American Fund for Contemporary Theater, a program of FACE; The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; and Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater.